Aloha from Hawaii- Feb 18th-27th

We went to Kauai for the opportunity to enjoy a family vacation and to attend the wedding of a long-time friend of Eric's. Eric's friend John was a groomsman in our wedding, so we didn't want to miss the chance to be a part of his special day. We took this family photo just after the lovely ceremony by the ocean and then followed by the reception inside at the Beach House Restaurant.

After the ceremony, Holly sat in the middle of the flowers that were thrown to the bride and groom as they walked down the isle. The flowers were beautiful and Holly looked so cute in her floral dress.

At the reception dinner, Tate gave me a wink as he was served his steak and lobster dinner. He also loved his fancy " lava flow" drink. We told him that there are not many 5 year olds who get to enjoy such a special dinner.....he is one lucky kid!

We spent lots of time at Poi Pu Beach. Holly was queen on the sand hill in her new cute bathing suit. She had a matching hat to go with it, but would not wear it for more then two seconds.

Some of our other friends were in Kauai for the wedding too, so the kids kept busy together building sandcastles and playing in the water. The house that we rented for the week had lots of beach toys and buckets, so we were well prepared of fun in the sand.

Eric finally pried this boogie board away from Carson and took Holly out for a ride in the water. The water was so clear here that we could see the beautiful tropical fish swimming right around us.

Carson tried to fill up a sand pit with water....that kept them busy for a while.

Carson loved this boogie board. We borrowed it from our rental house and it went to the beach each time with us. Carson called it a skateboard the entire time, but he could call it whatever he wanted because he had so much fun!

Tate liked to jump and lay in the waves.

The beach at Poi Pu had very small breaking waves, so the kids could play in the ocean and not be too worried about big currents. They had a great day!

Carson begged me to take him out further into the water on his boogie board. He would have been happy to spend hours out in the water if he could.

One night after dinner, we walked from our rental house to the beach down the street. The sunset was great and was a nice way to spend the evening.

The kids and I enjoyed a fantastic sunset.

This was our great house that we rented during our vacation. We spent a lot of time out on the covered porch everyday and ate most meal out there too. The deck overlooked the ocean which was just on the other side of the yard. The big glass sliding doors slid completely across and opened up to the living room and kitchen inside to create one giant space.

RahRah and Papa joined us on our vacation and we got to share this great 4,000 sq foot house all together. There was so much room for all of us and a nice way to spend some extra time together.

Eric and I took a zodiac boat day trip with "Captain Andy's Expeditions" around to the Nepali coast. A few years ago we took a big catamaran on a similar trip, but this zodiac "raft" was a much less relaxing, but more exciting experience. The whales are out and about this time of year making their way back up to Alaska with their new babies. We saw so many whales just 100+ yards away and were lucky enough to be even closer to a pod of a couple hundred dolphins.

The Nepali coast is almost entirely inaccessible except by boat..... or by a rigorous multi day hike which is only for very experienced hikers. We happily chose to see it by boat and loved every bit of it. We were even able to go into many of the small sea caves while in our little zodiac boat.

This is where our little boat stopped along the coastline for a little break. We had our lunch, took a short hike up to an ancient fishing village, and did a bit of snorkeling.

Kauai is known for its large amount of chickens who are known to just run wild and free all over the island. They are everywhere from the resort pool areas to even sitting on the grocery carts at the store and hovering outside the entrance doors of Costco. Carson thought this family of chickens and baby chicks were quite cute.

Our last day in Kauai we spent at the Kauai Beach Resort. Our rented house was only available until the day before we left the island, so we stayed at this great resort for our last night of vacation. The pools were so great and the kids had the best time. The "kids pool" was only 1 1/2 ft deep so they could splash around without the worry of getting in too deep.

The resort grounds were beautiful, so the boys tried out their most impressive poses on this luau stage.

After our last day of fun in the sun, we headed back to our room to rest up and get cleaned up for dinner. We ate at the resort restaurant that evening and had an "all you can eat" seafood buffet. We definitely made the most our of our final day in paradise!